Atchison, B. T. (2008). Assistive technology as an accommodation on accountability assessments: An analysis of attitudes and knowledge of special education professionals (Publication No. 3310867) [Doctoral dissertation, Kansas State University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/docview/304561104

Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS); ProQuest document ID: 304561104

The accommodation under study was the use of assistive technology in accountability assessments such as the Colorado State Assessment Project (CSAP) testing.

Survey participants consisted of a group of special service providers (31 staff members of a special education cooperative) and a group of educators and administrators (43 employees of the school districts the cooperative serves) in Colorado (U.S.). Interview participants were a subset of 10 of the survey participants. Various demographic and other data describing participants were also collected.

The researcher conducted a survey to measure the attitudes and knowledge of educators and special service providers on the use of assistive technology during statewide assessments. The survey was a five point Likert scale composed of ten items designed to measure "attitudes" and ten items designed to measure "knowledge." The researcher also interviewed study participants.

Survey results indicated that knowledge and attitudes between participant groups were similar. However, regression analysis identified that, with work experience, attitude scale scores increased for special education cooperative employees, while there was no relationship between work experience and attitude or knowledge for district employees. The interview data provided descriptions of knowledge and attitudes concerning the use of assistive technology as accommodations. For instance, elements of the process of incorporating assistive technology into the testing environment were detailed. Following pentadic elements (Burke, 1945), purposes, primary barriers, and dominant elements were identified and incorporated into process descriptions that the participant groups provided. The researcher offered practice recommendations contextualized to the Colorado school district setting. Limitations of the study were reported, and future research possibilities were suggested.